Paper sheathed pencils



March 1o, 1959 rllllllll .IIIIIIIAw/.ll' "1,1115:

P. GAUTHIER PAPER sHEATHEn PENCILs Filed Feb. 6, 1956 INVENTOR Phila/opeGazf/e ATTOR EYS ...Unid States Patt PAPER SHEATHED PENCILS PhilippeGauthier, Drummondville, Quebec, Canada, as-

signor to Blaisdell Pencil Company, Drummondville, v Quebec, Canada, acorporation of Pennsylvania Application February 6, 195s, seriai No.563,525'

' 4 claims. (c1. 1z0- 35) This invention relates to improvements inpaper sheathed pencils.

4 Such pencil comprises a rod or stick of marking material such asgraphite or so-called lead, crayon or the like, and in addition suchpencils may comprise rods of abradable rather than marking material,such as erasers,

and cosmetics such as eyebrow pencils, styptic sticks the pencil, i. e.,expose a portion of the marking or abradable material, the outermoststrip of the paper is unwound and removed.

Such paper pencils have been on the market for many years. Much researchwork has been devoted to the development of such pencils in which thestrips of paper can be removed readily, i. e., by pulling olf quicklyand easily and without involving laborious unwinding from the pencil.Where parallel rows of continuous score lines separate contiguous paperstrips of such pencils, as the pencils inust have the necessarystrengthto resist breaking and bending transversely of their length, thescore lines must be relatively shallow-'and in addition to the stripbeing ditlicult to remove, it frequently fails to shear clean inelecting sharpening or pointing of vthe pencil.' Use of paper sheaths inwhich contiguous strips are separated by closely spaced slots or slitsfrequently result in pencils which are weak transversely and whichreadily break or bend to an extent rendering the pencil undesirable orobjectionable in use and also gives rise to added problems in winding ofthe paper on the rod or stick of marking or abrasive material due to theincreased tendency of the paper to split during the winding. Efforts tocounteract this splitting tendency by having the areas separatingcontinguous slots or slits in the same row, of considerable length say0.05 inch or longer, results in pencils which cannot be sharpenedreadily, but in which a strip must for that purpose be unwound slowly,laboriously and carefully.

It is accordingly among the Vobjects of this invention to provide apaper pencil which is comparatively strong, i. e., will not break orbend unduly transversely when subjected to normal stresses in use, whichmay readily be wound without likelihood of splitting during such windingand from which the strips can readily and quickly be removed to sharpenthe pencil; for example, they can be pulled olf quickly and cleanly andneed not be laboriously unwound, and which provides a conical end whensharpened which affords a better grip than paper pencils heretoforeknown and which permits of a more comortable and firmer handling of thepencil by the user.

According to the invention, the sheathing paper has ICC the contiguousstrips, each desirably about s of an inch wide separated by rows ofspaced score line segments, each from lg of an inch to g, preferablyabout 1A@ of an inch in length and each score line segment in a row isseparated from the next score line segment in the same row by a distancewithin the range of .008 to .015 inch.

This range of dimensions of the score line segments and their spacing ineach row are critical, because it is only by having the length of thescore lines and their spacing conform to the above noted requirementsthat a pencil results which is relatively strong in that it resistsbreaking and bending transversely and which permits the depth ofthescore line segments to be relatively great, i. e., the thickness of thesheet `remaining between the back thereof and the bottom of the scoreline segment may be between .0005 and .00075 inch, so that the pencilcan be readily sharpened or pointed by pulling olf a strip. Thereinherently results by the present invention a novel-and improved conicalend when a strip is pulled off for sharpening, inasmuch as smallprojecting portions or ears are automatically formed in spaced relationon the exposed edge of the strip on such conical end and they extendfrom an overlapping convolution over the immediately underlyingconvolution, thus providing a conical end which affords a better gripand hence permits a iirmer and more convenient holding than the ridgedconical end produced in the sharpening of prior known paper pencils.

In the specification and claims, the expression score line means anarrow depression in the sheet, extending from the outer face thereofinwardly for part only of the thickness of the sheet.

In the accompanying drawings, in which is shown one or more of variouspossible embodiments of the several features of the invention,

Fig. l is a side elevational view of a pencil embodying the invention(in the interest of clarity of illustration the details of the structureof the conical end of the pencil have not been shown in this ligure),

Fig. 2 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary side elevational view of theconical end of the pencil,

Fig. 3 is a plan diagrammatic view of the sheathing paper employed inmaking the pencil of this invention (the scale being too small to permitshowing the spacing between the successive score lines in each row forwhich reason these successive score lines are represented by fulllines),

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan view on a Igreatly enlarged scale showingthe spacing between the successive score lines of each row defining theside edges of contiguous strips and in the case of a portion of a pairof contiguous strips showing the shape or configuration of the ears whenone strip is removed to sharpen the pencil,

Fig. 5 is a sectional view on a greatly enlarged scale, taken along line5-5 of Fig. 4, and

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5, taken along line 6 6 of Fig. 4.

Referring now to the drawings 10 indicates a pencil composed of a rod orstick of marking or abrasive material 11 sheathed in a sheet of paper 12which, as shown in Fig. 3, is in the shape of a parallelogram, theangles of which depart but slightly from right angles.

According to the invention, the sheathing sheet 12 has a plurality ofparallel rows of spaced score line segments 14 which define strips 1Stherebetween, each about @is of an inch in width. The score linesegments 14 are preferably all of the same length, each from 1/32 to gof an inch, preferably of an inch in length and the thickness of thesheet remaining between the back thereof and the bottom of the scoreline segments 14 is between .0005 and .00075 inch which is considerablyless than the thickness ofthe sheet itself. The spaces 16 between thescore line segments i4 of each row are all preferably of the same lengthwithin the range of .008 to .015 inch. The sheathing sheet 12 may berolled around the marking material 11 with the exterior layer 18adhesively secured to the immediately underlying layers and treated witha paint, varnish or enamel of any desired color. Preferably, but notnecessarily, cutouts or depressions 19 are formed in the outer layer 1Saligned with `each row of score lines 14 to facilitate sharpening andserv ing as a guide by which the width of the strips I may be gauged.

When the sheathing sheet l2 is wound about the rod or stick of markingor abrasivey material 11, each strip 1'5 is disposed on the markingmaterial 11 in theform of a spiral coil 21, best shown in Fig. 2. Thespiral coils formed by the strips 15 of the sheet 12 are thus disposedalong the length of the stick of marking material 11 in side by sidecontiguous relationship. To effect sharpening of the pencil, it is onlynecessary to remove the leading spiral coil 21 thus exposing a freshportion of the marking or abrasive rod or stick 11. For this purpose, inthe embodiment of the invention shown in the drawing, the pencil isprovided with a exible element 22, such as a thread extending the lengththereof and having one end exposed near the tip of the pencil so that itmay readily be gripped between the lingers and moved to cut through theouter layer 18 to facilitate unwinding or tearing of one of the spiralstrips 15.

By having the rows of spaced score line segments 14 dimensioned ashereinabove described, when a coil 2l is removed, ears 23, best shown inFigs. 2 and 4, antomatically form on the exposed edge 24 of the helix orspiral coil left on the pencil to form the conical sharpened endthereof. These ears are in the form of small projections formed from thespaces 16 between adjacent score lines 14 which extend from theexposededge 24 and across the immediately underlying convolution, as best shownin Fig. 2. These ears 23, accordingly result in a conical end affordinga better grip, which can be more comfortably and firmly held by theuser.

The combination of the score line segments 14 and the spaces 16 betweenthe score line segments provides a paper pencil that is relativelystrong in that it resists breaking and bending transversely of itslength. The score line segments 14 may be of considerable depth so thatthe pencil can be sharpened readily and quickly by pulling oi theleading coil 21 to expose a fresh portion of the stick 1l and theresultant conical end is more easily gripped firmly without resultantinconvenience to the user.

In the claims, the term rod of abradable material is generic to markingmaterial, erasers, cosmetics, such as eyebrow pencils, mascara andstyptic material.

tAs changes could be made in the above article, and differentembodiments of this invention could be made without departing from thescope of the claims, it is intended that all matter contained in theabove description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall beinterpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A pencil comprising a rod of abradable material, a sheath for saidrod composed of a spirally `Wound paper sheet forming parallel stripseach approximately of an inch wide, said strips being formed by parallelrows of spaced score line segments, each score line segment in each suchrow being of substantially the same length within the range of 1,532 -to@X32 of an inch andthe spaces between contiguous score line segments ineach row being of substantially the same length and within the range of.008 to 0.15 inch and each score line-segment being of a depth spaced bybetween .0005 and .00075 inch from the inner face of the strip.

2. The combination recited in claim l in which the spaces betweencontiguous score lines in each row `are not greater than .00S inch longand the length ofieach score line is about 1A@ inch long` 3. A papersheath for winding about a rod of abrad able material to form a paperpencil, said sheath having parallel rows of spaced score line segmentsextending thereacross and the score line segments in each row vhaving alength within lthe range of )7&2 to @$2 of an inch and being spacedapart a distance of from .008 to 0.15 inch, the thickness of thefsheathremaining between the back thereof and the bottom of each score linesegment being within the range of .0005 and .00075 inch.

4. The combination recited in claim l in which the spirally wound stripdelines the conical end of said pencil and has projecting from theexposed edges thereof a series of spaced ears bridging the space between-each overlying convolution and the immediate underlying convolution.

References Cited in the iile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS549,952 Blaisdell Nov. 19, 1895 1,756,953 OSullivan May 6, 19301,761,407 OSullivan June 3, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT O FFICECERTIFICATE 0F coRRECTioN Patent No., 2,876,739 March lO, 1959 PhilippecfcmfhierV In the granty lines 2 and 3, for "assigner to BlaisdellPencil Company, of Drlmlmondville, Quebec, Canada, a corporation ofPennsylvania," read Signed and sealed this 14th day of June' 1960,

(SEAL) Attest:

KARL E., XLINE ROBERT C. WATSON Attesting Officer Cnm'nissione ofFeiten@

